We had heard something crazy about Microsoft being willing to spend billions on marketing Windows Phone 7 and apparently, WP7 isn't the only product Microsoft is willing to pour boatloads of cash into.
Along with the unveiling of its launch portfolio for Kinect, Microsoft is making the news today after it was revealed that the company will be spending a billion dollars on marketing Windows Phone 7 and Kinect. An article published in the New York Post yesterday said that Microsoft would be spending the same amount of money on Kinect that it afforded to the Xbox launch 10 years ago.
"Kinect is the largest, most integrated marketing initiative in Xbox history, bigger than its launch," Robert Matthews, general manager of global marketing communications for Xbox, is cited as saying. "We are going to be spending millions to launch this globally."
So what will they be spending the $500 million dollars on? Well, for one thing, the company has struck a promotional partnership with Burger King and for another, the Post reports that 400 million cans of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi will plug Kinect. There's also a deal with Kellogg's that will involve 60 million cereal and snack boxes from the cereal giant and a huge 7,000 retailers will stay open past midnight on launch day.
Starting to sound like half a billion dollars in marketing? Not yet, okay, we'll continue. Microsoft will be taking over the YouTube homepage and the post mentions a "big presence on Nickelodeon and Disney digital properties" too. Next week's episodes of Dancing with the Stars and Glee will feature new Kinect TV spots from AgencyTwoFifteen and print ads will appear in several magazines including People and InStyle. Microsoft is also holding a huge Kinect launch event in Times Square, NYC, and many of the billboards will feature Kinect ads. Kinect is also appearing on Oprah and the Ellen DeGeneres Show. In fact, this afternoon, Oprah gave every single person in the audience a free Xbox 360 with Kinect.
The news of Microsoft's multi-million dollar marketing campaign for Kinect comes just a few weeks after similar rumors hit about the Windows Phone 7 launch. Late in August, analyst Jonathan Goldberg said he believed Microsoft would spend $400 million on advertising the new mobile OS. This $400 million on top of other necessary costs that includes millions of dollars for "non-recurring engineering costs" to help offset development costs is said to add up to a total of half a billion.
Do you think this is money well spent on Microsoft's part? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: tomsguide.com
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